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What's With Those Specs?

by the NWR Staff - December 14, 2005, 6:24 pm PST

The PGC staff discusses the rumored Revolution specs floating around.

Last week IGN reported an unofficial sketch of the Revolution's hardware based on third party sources. The report has created much commotion--naturally we have our own thoughts on the matter. Let the rambling begin!

David: First of all, I believe the information is relatively accurate. As with most things, there are a number of positives and negatives to be considered here. The obvious negative is under-powered graphics, although this is somewhat mitigated by the fact that Revolution games will not have to run in HD (which is itself a manifestation of under-powered graphics of course). The other negatives are essentially marketing problems related to having the least powerful console.

The positives are low manufacturing cost and also higher manufacturing volume. As long as the controller doesn't cost too much, this will translate into a very low launch price combined with very high launch quantities. Together this should result in a very significant number of Revolutions sold at launch starting the console out with a healthy install base. As the price decreases, the number of games increases and the PS3 launch magic wears off, Nintendo will have the easiest time selling new consoles to 360 and PS3 owners because the lower price and unique interface will easily justify the purchase. The low price is integral to bringing in non-gamers as well. All in all, I think the positives clearly outweigh the negatives for Nintendo. The ones who lose the most are die-hard Nintendo fans with deep pockets who really wanted to see Nintendo enter the HD era in style.

In short, as long as Nintendo can convince third parties to release games that justify the controller, I think they'll do very well. The lack of hardware power won't hurt them as long as there is a solid install base. Developers don't rule the industry, but Nintendo will certainly have a number of developers on their side who are just itching to develop for the new interface.

Jonathan L.: Nintendo has bowed out of the console graphics "arms race", and I

obvious improvement on GameCube's graphic power while providing a steady

stream of innovative games exclusive to their console.

Content is king in the videogame industry, and Nintendo will certainly

have great content. Within the context of Nintendo's strategy, the

"underpowered" specs of the Revolution shouldn't come as a surprise to

anyone.

Stan: While I don't have any conclusive data to back up this statement, I can still state pretty confidently that the DS didn't expand the handheld market like Nintendo is expecting to do with the Revolution. How are they going to market this so that Mrs. Soccer Mom is going to buy this just as much for herself as for her kids? I'm interested in seeing how they pull this off.

They've certainly limited themselves to pushing the controller, since the "guts" of the machine (based on the pretty credible hearsay) isn't anything to call home about. 104 MB of RAM is pretty weak. I can hope IGN is dead wrong, though they seem to be very confident in their sources.

256MB of RAM was the least I was expecting from this console, primarily because I was thinking, "Okay, this bad-boy's got to last 5 years. And with no HD, that leaves plenty of breathing room"

I guess I'm disappointed, but I love the controller so much that I'm most definitely intrigued. With next fall being the expected launch date, Nintendo better turn on the faucet if they plan on creating an ocean.

Mike C.: Let's not forget that developers tweak details of the specs all of the time. Sony increased the amount of RAM in the

PSP fairly late in its development, and Nintendo tweaked clock rates for the GameCube GPU and CPU after its E3 showing.

I'm not saying Nintendo is going to all of a sudden go HD, but if their internal development team decides they need more

RAM, they'll add at least a little more.

Rick: Nintendo is caught in a difficult situation. Revolution will be a hard

sell at retail, because much like the Nintendo DS, until you get it in

your hands and see what all the fuss is about, it's far too easy to

dismiss. Without "sexy" hardware specs and features, the very market

Nintendo is going after will need to play with Revolution before making

a decision, and I'm just not sure that the intriguing controller is

going to get the job done.

However, Nintendo is most definitely going to have some innovative

software, and it's possible that they may be able to generate the same

sort of buzz that Mario 64 created going into the Nintendo 64 era, which

would certainly offset the lack of the expected "next-generation"

feature set.

What Nintendo needs to do is avoid making the same mistakes Microsoft

has made with the Xbox 360 launch. Focus on one territory at a time,

launch with at least one killer app (Mario would surely do it), and make

sure that the initial run of software shows the potential of the new

controller mechanism.

Steven: After the initial announcement that Nintendo wouldn't be supporting HD

resolutions on the Revolution, I was furious. It took a few days for me

to cool off after that. Now that I've seen some potential specs for it,

I just stopped caring about the whole technical aspect of it. While I

do admit I was expecting a little more, I realize that what the

Revolution is going to be should be more than enough for anyone to enjoy

Not for themselves, at any rate. (At least in my family, that is something

that is never, ever going to happen.) Rather, Nintendo wants people like

our parents to PLAY video games... something that is near impossible for my

folks with today's controllers. (My mom still hasn't figured out how to use

the "right-click" menus in Windows.) If the RevMote is as intuitive as I

think it is, Nintendo will achieve its goal of making a video game platform

that "non-gamers" can play and enjoy. The commercial success comes in when

Nintendo Revolution becomes the first choice for putting under the family

room television... not just in the basement home-theater... not just in

kid's bedroom... not just over at a family member's apartment. Nintendo

wants its new system to be at the center of the household. Our parents

won't buy a revolution for themselves, but we will buy it for them as gifts

after discovering found how much fun it is playing together.

I think of the key to Revolution's success is less about increases sales

rather than it is about increased users per unit. Increased sales come later

after Mom and Dad talk to other couples about how much fun they had playing

"that new Nintendo with the amazing little controller". One by one, more

and more families will hear about it and conclude "we've got to get one of

those for our house".

As for the actual specs, (we've gotten really off-track here!), I think

Nintendo's mere "mortal" hardware can only help them sell it as a family

centric device. High-end electronics aren't really in the same market as

"household" items. Cutting-edge technology, as great as it would be for

gamers, only gets in the way of the marketing-message Nintendo wants to build

around the Revolution. There are some people, the majority of people, who

never buy ANYTHING top of the line. They always go for the value purchase.

And I'm not just talking about the price, positioning the system as a

"mid-level" machine automatically signals to this market that this is the

choice for them.

I want to make it clear, while I think Nintendo's target for hardware specs is rock-solid form a marketing standpoint, its still terribly disappointing as a Nintendo enthusiast. I'm somewhat of a graphics-snob who gets annoyed at graphical flaws/limitations in video games. Not being able to run/swim around Isle Del Fino in "Super Mario Sunshine" is an example that comes to mind. Will the worlds Nintendo creates for Revolution be anymore expansive than on GameCube?

I'm still hopeful that when the final hardware is revealed, Revolution will indeed show us a big leap in visuals. We still have very few hard facts about the hardware specs. Sure, the 88MB of main RAM seems puny next to the 360's 512MB... but lets not overlook that its a version of the 1T-SRAM that, with only 24MB in the GameCube, was able to keep up with the Xbox's 64MB. Microsoft increased its main-memory by a factor of 8, Nintendo by 3.6. I'm still highly skeptical that the "normal" RAM in Revolution will only amount to 16MB... isn't it cheaper to go with 32MB or 64MB simply b/c more people make RAM in those amounts?

Mike C.: When you're making a console, placing special orders in bulk, round numbers are not really "cheaper" or "easier" to fill. I see no reason for more secondary RAM in the Revolution—if they increase anything it would be the main RAM.

Whatever Nintendo is planning with IBM and ATI, clearly it isn't as powerful as what the other two have. Will Nintendo win on its less-is-more gamble? Will the graphics be "good enough"? Only time will tell.